10 Fall Gardening Tips

Fall gardening is a very different chore, depending on where you live. In Los Angeles, where I live, fall is just a continuation of summer. 

In the Northeast, however, temperatures may start dropping quickly. Regardless of your climate, fall is the time to prepare your garden for winter.

These 10 fall gardening tips will get your plants, flowers, and vegetables through the big chill ahead.

1.  Plant Perennially

If you live where you still have a few weeks left before hard frosts hit, you can still put some flowering plants in your fall garden. For a final splash of color, plant dianthus, hardy asters, hardy chrysanthemum, ornamental peppers, primrose, ornamental kale, pansies, and Indian summer rudbeckia.

In areas with mild, wet winters, this is a prime time to plant perennials, shrubs, and trees and a vegetable garden.

2.  Fall Gardening Flower and Vegetable Bed Cleanup

Clean up flower beds and the vegetable garden. Weed. Cut back yellowing or brown foliage.

3.  Water Wisely

When the ground freezes, plants can no longer get any moisture. So if you live in a cold climate, water your lawn, plants, vegetable garden, and trees well for the next couple of months. It may be the last drink they get for a while.

4.  Prune Late-Flowering Perennials and Shrubs

Cut back late-flowering perennials and shrubs such as hydrangea, buddleia, and peonies to the ground and mulch. Prune rambler roses now but wait until late winter or early spring to prune other varieties. Do not prune spring-flowering shrubs - such as lilacs or forsythia - whose buds have already formed.

5.  Mulch Much?

You don't mulch to keep the ground warm all winter, but to keep the ground temperature uniform. When ground freezes and thaws,  plants are often heaved up, exposing their roots, so you want to avoid that cycle.

Wait until the ground is partially frozen to mulch around plants in cold areas. Otherwise, the plants are lulled into thinking it's still summer and will keep growing.

This tender new growth makes the plant vulnerable when a hard freeze hits. It's the same reason why you don't fertilize in late fall.

Mulch must be six- to eight inches deep to keep the temperature constant. However, do not mulch more than two inches deep over tree roots as they need air and moisture. Do you live in a warmer clime?

Mulching is still a good idea. If you mulch with organic material, such as compost, your flowerbeds will self-fertilize and be ready to plant next spring.  Also, a layer of mulch at least four inches deep will discourage weeds and erosion in your vegetable garden.

6.  Fertilize the Lawn

7.  Don't Burn Leaves

8.  Prepare Garden Tools for Winter

Drain and put away garden hoses you won't be using this winter. Clean and sharpen gardening tools. Wipe blades with a thin coating of oil. Varnish or seal wood handles. Check owner's manuals for directions on storing power tools such as lawnmowers and leaf blowers.

9.  Protect Trees

Use trunk collars to protect fruit trees and trees with thin bark from rodents over the winter.

10.  Store Bulbs

In cold climates, dig up summer-flowering bulbs and tubers and store them in a dry, cool place — and plant spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips.

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